Hannes Wolf finished with two goals and an assist on Thursday night to help New York City FC post a 4-0 home victory over Atlanta United.
New York (8-6-4, 28 points) picked up points for the fifth time in its last six games (4-1-1), while avenging a 4-3 loss at Atlanta on March 29.
New York possessed the ball for 53 percent of the win and goalkeeper Tomas Romero made three saves in his first team appearance. Starter Matt Freese is playing in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Atlanta (4-9-5, 17 points) dropped its second straight game and was held scoreless for the eighth time this season. The club also remained winless away from home, falling to 0-6-2.
It took 32 minutes for Atlanta to record its first shot attempt as Aleksey Miranchuk hit the crossbar. After an Atlanta goal was called off due to Jamal Thiare’s offside penalty, Maxi Moralez tallied his second goal of the season thanks to Wolf’s assist in the 44th minute to give New York a 1-0 lead.
New York’s offensive onslaught began in the 55th minute as Andres Perea found Mounsef Bakrar for a goal from the center of the box to double its lead. Two minutes later, Moralez assisted Wolf on a goal from the left of the box that was snuck past Atlanta goalkeeper Brad Guzan.
Atlanta was burned again by Wolf as he scored his second goal in three minutes, receiving a breakaway pass from Justin Haak and dribbling past Guzan to tack on New York’s fourth goal.
After not playing since May 31, New York will have two-plus weeks off before returning to action June 28 at Montreal. Atlanta’s next match will be June 25 at Columbus.
–Field Level Media